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She said the policy was dreamed up on the ‘back of a fag packet’ for Mr Clegg’s ‘moment in the limelight’, leaving many in education ‘running round like headless chickens’. ‘They are not providing us with enough money,’ she said.

‘We are about half a million short, which is going to come from the taxpayers.This money could be going to disadvantaged children. It makes me so angry. I shake with rage when I think about it.’

Mr Clegg said he would demand a ‘hot, healthy lunch’ for infant school pupils every day.

But following warnings from headteachers that his policy was not properly funded, references to ‘hot’ were quietly dropped from legislation published earlier this year.

Half of schools say they are still waiting for kitchen or service upgrades before they can give out the lunches, while 3,100 schools say they will definitely not be able to fulfil the pledge as they cannot afford the equipment

The figures were requested by the Mail from 150 education authorities. Seventy-one responded and supplied figures on the type of provision to be offered in their schools.

This revealed that 1,350 out of 7,083 primaries plan to fulfil the duty by transporting in hot food.

Further figures from 67 councils show that 3,051 out of 6,144 schools – 49.7 per cent – still need improvements to kitchen, dining or serving facilities to meet the deadline. This suggests that nearly 8,100 schools are carrying out urgent upgrades.

Schools struggling to implement reforms have been advised to consider kitchen ‘pods’ dropped in by crane.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'We have contacted every local authority as well as hundreds of academies and based on their responses the overwhelming majority of schools are on track to deliver this policy in September and we are confident it will be delivered on time.

'Universal free school meals have already been shown to work in the pilot schemes run by the Department for Education and Department of Health between 2009 and 2011.

Indeed, schools have had longer to prepare for the introduction of universal infant free school meals this September than schools in those pilot areas had.

Some schools, as now, may choose to transport in food that has been prepared elsewhere.

'We are providing £150 million to improve kitchens and dining facilities, an additional £22.5 million to help smaller schools to provide these meals and a free support service staffed by food experts for schools.'If hot meals cannot be provided schools would be expected to work towards offering them ‘as soon as possible’.